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69 °F Forecast | Road Cams Monday, April 12, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find a Rental Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Email Story to a Friend April 1, 2004 Peaceful Rwanda turned bloody in 1994 By BILL VARBLE Mail Tribune When Carl Wilkens went to Rwanda in 1990, it was beautiful. When he left in 1996, it had been added to the long, sad chapter of genocide in the 20th century. "It was a peaceful little country," says Wilkens, of Days Creek. "In Zimbabwe, we’d been used to soldiers and roadblocks. Rwanda was so refreshing." In three months in 1994, extremist Hutus and the Rwandan government slaughtered an estimated 800,000 Tutsis as the world watched and did nothing. Wilkens, 46, now a Seventh-day Adventist pastor at Milo Academy, was head of the Adventist Development Relief Agency in Rwanda. With him was his wife, Teresa, and the couple’s three children. The former Belgian colony by 1990 had been basically at peace for 30 years. But when African colonies were gaining independence almost a half-century ago, the Belgians, who had favored the Tutsis, flip-flopped and put Hutus in power, leading to fighting in the countryside and a large exodus of Tutsis. Advertisement Eventually the predominantly Tutsi Rwanda Patriotic Front launched attacks that forced the government to bargain. A new government that was to be formed at the end of 1993 was to represent everybody. Wilkens worked in displacement camps where tens of thousands of people lived in ghastly conditions. "They were horrible cesspools," he says. Fighting had stopped, but tension was building. "March was tense," he says. On April 6, Rwandan President Habyarimana’s plane was shot down, and the killing began within 45 minutes. After two days, Wilkens knew it would not end quickly. Ten Belgian soldiers were butchered during a 72-hour cease-fire, and at least 5,000 foreigners fled. French and Belgian troops evacuated their citizens but no Tutsis, not even those who worked at their embassies. Rwandans, including Wilkens’ Tutsi friends, begged him to leave. "Don’t stay and die with us," they said. He stayed. Teresa Wilkens and the kids fled to Kenya. The genocide started in earnest. The government blamed Tutsis for the violence. Hutus and Hutu radio openly called for every Tutsi man, woman and child to be killed. The Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR) and the Hutu militia, the interahamwe, went house-to-house killing Tutsis. It went on for 100 days. "They were rooting on the killing on the radio," Wilkens says. An estimated 800,000 to 1 million died, most at the hands of young men wielding machetes. With the debacle of Somalia still fresh, the U.S. government did nothing. "There were rapes, mutilation, chopping off of body parts," Wilkens says. "Much of it was trained young guys. They’d go into a neighborhood and tell a father with a Tutsi wife he had to kill her and kill the kids right there because they were half Tutsi." At least one Hutu woman married to a Tutsi killed her children rather than let the mob get them. Many moderate Hutus were killed as well. After three weeks of hiding, Wilkens emerged and spent three months helping orphanages. Red Cross workers were being killed and couldn’t move around freely. There were no longer enormous piles of bodies, but there were mass graves, and the nation’s pit latrines were full of bodies. There was sniper fire. "It was apocalyptic," Wilkens says. "Chaos." On April 21, the United Nations withdrew most of its remaining troops, and the killing continued. Armed with $5,000 and aided by a Hutu colonel who had plenty of blood on his hands but also a Tutsi wife, Wilkens brought food, water and medicine to orphanages for three months and somehow survived. Why didn’t he leave? "My friends couldn’t leave," he says. His wife, after much prayer, agreed to his staying behind. "When you have two people together, it’s much bigger than one," he says. "If you’re coming to a country, you’re coming for better or worse." His friends said Hutu killers at one point suspected he was sheltering Tutsis. "We’ll kill that white guy," they said. The couple talked daily on ham radio during the ordeal. On April 30 the United Nations condemned the killing but avoided the word "genocide," which would have obligated it to take action. The genocide went on until July. Wilkens left Rwanda for a time, went back for a year-and-a-half, then left for good in September 1996. He became a minister and settled in at Milo Academy. Originally from Maryland, he had moved to Washington with his family and fallen in love with the Northwest. Wilkens had a lot of anger to process. Looking back, he faults the United Nations, the United States and the international community. "It was very hard to come back here," he says. "We’re so self-centered. Everything’s about us." He’s trying to move on. "I’ve been through the horror," he says. "My focus now is on what makes a difference. Where do you go after that? "How do the Rwandans live in the house where their families were butchered?" He clings to the knowledge that one person can make a difference. "We think it’s like spitting in the ocean," he says. "It’s not." On KSYS tonight An interview with Carl Wilkens airs at 8:30 p.m. today on Southern Oregon Public Television, KSYS Channel 8. Frontline’s two-hour documentary marking the 10th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, "Ghosts of Rwanda," begins at 9 p.m. Reach reporter Bill Varble at 776-4478 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback 3 WEEKS FREE! ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S RESOURCES Oregon Road Conditions & Cams SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Food for Thought Wellness Connection Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities Prime Times